Organizations as Complex Systems

Organizations as Complex Systems PDF Author: Maurice Yolles
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1607528088
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 887

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Book Description
Managing the Complex is an ambitious title - and it would be an audacious one if we were not to begin with a frank admission: to date few to none of us have a skill set which includes managing the complex. We try various things, we write about others, and we wonder about still others. When a tool, perspective, or technique comes along which seems to evoke success, we emulate it probe it and recoil at the all too often admission that it was situation and context which afforded success its opportunity, and not some quality intrinsic to the tool perspective or technique. Indeed, if the study of complexity has done anything for managers, and for those who espouse managerial theory, it is in providing a ‘scientific foundation’ for the notion that context matters. Those who preach abstract ideas have then to reconcile themselves to the notion that situation and embodiment matters. Those who believe in strong causality and determinism are left to wrestle with the role of chance, uncertainty, and chaos. Those who prefer to argue that men move history are confronted with the role of environment and affordances, while those who argue the reverse are left to contend with charisma, irrationality of crowds, and the strange qualities we know as emotions. A series on complex systems has less ambitious goals to contend with than this. Such a series can deal with classifications, and categories, and speak of ‘noise’ as if it were not the central focus of the problem. Managing the complex is about managing ‘noise’ or perhaps we should say it is about ‘dealing with’ ‘accepting’ ‘making room for’ and ‘learning from’ ‘noise’. The articles in this volume and in volumes to come will each be considered as ‘noise’ by some and as ‘gems’ by others, but we hope that practicing managers and academics alike will find plenty of fuel to drive their personal explorations into understanding, and perhaps even managing, the complex.

Organizations as Complex Systems

Organizations as Complex Systems PDF Author: Maurice Yolles
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1607528088
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 887

Get Book

Book Description
Managing the Complex is an ambitious title - and it would be an audacious one if we were not to begin with a frank admission: to date few to none of us have a skill set which includes managing the complex. We try various things, we write about others, and we wonder about still others. When a tool, perspective, or technique comes along which seems to evoke success, we emulate it probe it and recoil at the all too often admission that it was situation and context which afforded success its opportunity, and not some quality intrinsic to the tool perspective or technique. Indeed, if the study of complexity has done anything for managers, and for those who espouse managerial theory, it is in providing a ‘scientific foundation’ for the notion that context matters. Those who preach abstract ideas have then to reconcile themselves to the notion that situation and embodiment matters. Those who believe in strong causality and determinism are left to wrestle with the role of chance, uncertainty, and chaos. Those who prefer to argue that men move history are confronted with the role of environment and affordances, while those who argue the reverse are left to contend with charisma, irrationality of crowds, and the strange qualities we know as emotions. A series on complex systems has less ambitious goals to contend with than this. Such a series can deal with classifications, and categories, and speak of ‘noise’ as if it were not the central focus of the problem. Managing the complex is about managing ‘noise’ or perhaps we should say it is about ‘dealing with’ ‘accepting’ ‘making room for’ and ‘learning from’ ‘noise’. The articles in this volume and in volumes to come will each be considered as ‘noise’ by some and as ‘gems’ by others, but we hope that practicing managers and academics alike will find plenty of fuel to drive their personal explorations into understanding, and perhaps even managing, the complex.

Complex Systems and Self-organization Modelling

Complex Systems and Self-organization Modelling PDF Author: Cyrille Bertelle
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540880739
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
This book, the outcome of a workshop meeting within ESM 2006, explores the use of emergent computing and self-organization modeling within various applications of complex systems.

Strategy for Managing Complex Systems

Strategy for Managing Complex Systems PDF Author: Fredmund Malik
Publisher: Campus Verlag
ISBN: 3593505398
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 565

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Book Description
"Malik demonstrates that management and management theory have strong foundations in systems science, and most specifically in a certain type of cybernetics of truly complex systems, of organismic, self-organizing, and evolving systems. This book provides the basics on how to create robust, functional, and sustainably viable systems. One of the reasons why it has become a classic on management cybernetics, now in its 11th edition, is that the strategies and heuristic principles of complexity management are still relevant - now more than ever."--Back cover.

Models of Discovery

Models of Discovery PDF Author: Herbert A. Simon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401095213
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
We respect Herbert A. Simon as an established leader of empirical and logical analysis in the human sciences while we happily think of him as also the loner; of course he works with many colleagues but none can match him. He has been writing fruitfully and steadily for four decades in many fields, among them psychology, logic, decision theory, economics, computer science, management, production engineering, information and control theory, operations research, confirmation theory, and we must have omitted several. With all of them, he is at once the technical scientist and the philosophical critic and analyst. When writing of decisions and actions, he is at the interface of philosophy of science, decision theory, philosophy of the specific social sciences, and inventory theory (itself, for him, at the interface of economic theory, production engineering and information theory). When writing on causality, he is at the interface of methodology, metaphysics, logic and philosophy of physics, systems theory, and so on. Not that the interdisciplinary is his orthodoxy; we are delighted that he has chosen to include in this book both his early and little-appreciated treatment of straightforward philosophy of physics - the axioms of Newtonian mechanics, and also his fine papers on pure confirmation theory.

Organization Design

Organization Design PDF Author: Nicolay Worren
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351383639
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
A well-designed organization is an effective organization. Decisions about organization design determine the shape and form of the organization – not only the reporting structure and authority relations, but also the number and size of sub-units and the interfaces between the sub-units. Indirectly, such decisions affect individual productivity as well as the organization’s ability to attain strategic goals. Organization Design equips the reader with advanced tools and frameworks, based on both research and practical experience, for understanding and re-designing organisations. Particular emphasis is placed on how one can improve effectiveness by simplifying complex roles, processes, and structures. This updated second edition includes a new chapter about traditional organizational forms, and is complemented by a companion website. Students will find thorough conceptual explanations combined with case studies from different industries. This textbook will be essential reading for students, scholars, and practitioners.

Understanding Complexity in Organizations

Understanding Complexity in Organizations PDF Author: Timothy Ludwig
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317986946
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Organizations are complex entities that must adapt the practices of their employees and management to meet the demands of a dynamic environment. Organizations are behavioral systems that coordinate interactions among its members and environment. Changing practices in one area of an organization can generate a reaction throughout the entire system, thus affecting the behaviors of those working within other areas, the experience of customers, and important organizational results. Behavioral Systems Analysis (BSA) focuses on these complex contingencies from the macro system all the way down to individual behavior. This book contains articles by internationally recognized experts in Behavioral Systems Analysis who discuss the role of organizational practices in their study of performance improvement and cultural change from both practical and conceptual perspectives. Business and non-profit managers will find tools and case studies to help understand and diagnose their organization’s dynamics. Scholars will appreciate articles’ theory and real-world descriptions when considering their own research direction. Finally, all students of management theory, behavior analysis, and human resources will find this collection a thought-provoking tool for their understanding of behavioral systems and their application in organizations. This book was published as a special issue in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management.

Complex Systems Leadership Theory

Complex Systems Leadership Theory PDF Author: James K. Hazy
Publisher: Exploring Organizational Compl
ISBN: 9780979168864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Written by leading experts in the field, this volume seeks to provide new insights and tools that have only recently become apparent through advances in complexity science.

Facilitating Organization Change

Facilitating Organization Change PDF Author: Edwin E. Olson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 078795330X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
"Facilitating Organization Change" hilft Ihnen, die Dynamik des Wandels in einem komplexen System zu verstehen und diese Kräfte gezielt zu nutzen. Dieses Buch nennt neue Perspektiven, Methoden und Techniken zur Wiederbelebung von Unternehmen. Es erläutert auch die Muster die das Unternehmensverhalten steuern und zeigt, wie man sich diese Einsichten zunutze macht, um den Unternehmenswandel effektiver voranzutreiben.

Complex Systems and Evolutionary Perspectives on Organisations

Complex Systems and Evolutionary Perspectives on Organisations PDF Author: Eve Mitleton-Kelly
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 9780080439570
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Focusing primarily on the application of the theories of complexity to organisations, it slowly helped to disseminate ideas on complexity. The 14 international authors in this volume reflect this interest in 10 chapters that range from the very practical application of the theory to more philosophical reflections on its nature and applicability.

Small Groups as Complex Systems

Small Groups as Complex Systems PDF Author: Holly Arrow
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1452238502
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
What are groups? How do they behave? Arrow, McGrath, and Berdahl answer these questions by developing a general theory of small groups as complex systems. Basing their theory on concepts distilled from general systems theory, dynamical systems theory, and complexity and chaos theory, they explore groups as adaptive, dynamic systems that are driven by interactions among group members as well as between the group and its embedding contexts. In addition, they consider not only the group's members and their distribution of attributes, but also the group's tasks and technology in order to understand how those members, tasks, and tools are intertwined, coordinated, and adjusted. Throughout the book, the authors focus our attention on relationships among people, tools, and tasks that are activated by a combination of individual and collective purposes and goals that change and evolve as the group interacts over time.